Friday, May 10, 2013
Here are a few picks for places to take Mom this weekend in Collingswood and Haddonfield.
For most people, food is a hallmark of any holiday. The act of gathering together around the table to share a meal makes special occasions all the more festive. In my family, we celebrate Easter with ham and babka. Christmas dinner always kicks off with our Italian escarole soup and ends with Pop-pop’s homemade apple pie. For my birthday, my mother makes my favorite simple comfort food: chicken cutlet with mashed potatoes and sweet corn. These little traditions provide a sense of ceremony and celebration in the most delicious way. As a new mom, I’m looking forward to starting a new tradition this Mother’s Day...and of course, it will involve food. While most holidays require a considerable amount of cooking, most often by the matriarch, …
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Chef Alex Capasso might make the best coleslaw in town.
While waiting for our food during our most recent visit to West Side Gravy, we took a look at the restaurant’s rating on various opinion sites. Our predecessor has already addressed the merit of review sites, so we won’t reignite that debate. Instead, let’s focus on how opinions vary about West Side Gravy and how they match up with ours. Yelp users give West Side Gravy 3 stars out of 5, and Trip Advisor rates them 3.5. The general consensus on Yelp and Trip Advisor is that West Side Gravy is “just okay.” As fans of the restaurant, we want explore this briefly. We think its identity might be partly to blame for the less-than-stellar reviews. We've eaten at West Side Gravy even before its upscale sister restaurant, Blackbird, moved in to …
Thursday, March 28, 2013
El Sitio offers a fine-dining feel at a mid-range price point with lots of romantic ambiance.
In our last article, we gave you the scoop on the various local restaurants participating in Collingswood Restaurant Week. We struggled to choose just one, but ultimately picked El Sitio. El Sitio is a restaurant we save for special occasions. It offers a fine-dining feel at a mid-range price and with lots of romantic ambiance. Restaurant Week was a great opportunity for us to enjoy a full, three-course meal. El Sitio is probably not the restaurant to choose if you’re in a hurry. The dishes are prepared fresh and to-order (we assume), and it can take some time for the first course to hit your table. Distract yourself with a nice bottle of wine and some good conversation. To start, appetizers: coconut shrimp for Jessica and Argentine …
Saturday, February 16, 2013
From a $6 Early Bird brunch to cinnamon-sugar chips with yogurt dip, the Haddon Ave. staple is for lots more than just dinner.
What could be better than getting up early on a Sunday morning and treating yourself to a hot breakfast at a local restaurant? That’s easy: sleeping in and treating yourself to a delicious brunch at a local restaurant! Although we’re new parents and haven’t “slept in” for three months, we fondly remember when such lazy days were possible. In the spirit of reminiscence, we recently decided to bring the baby to brunch at local favorite, The Tortilla Press. On the whole, Collingswood doesn’t have as many morning-meal options as we would like. There is, of course, the perennial powerhouse of The Pop Shop, which serves breakfast daily (and all day, in fact!), but only a handful of other spots that offer weekend brunch for a range of discerning …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
As he hangs up his dining utensils, Dave Valiante offers his parting thoughts on the restaurant scene in Collingswood and the surrounding area.
Last week, I said goodbye to one of my favorite TV shows, 30 Rock, as they themselves bid farewell to the audience that supported them through seven slapstick and hilarious seasons. By the nature of show business, television shows rarely get a chance to say a proper goodbye. If its ratings are good enough, the network will typically renew a show until it inevitably becomes a parody of itself, viewers abandon ship, and the show goes out with a whimper. 30 Rock was afforded the unique opportunity to go out on its own merit, to close Tina Fey’s vision the way she intended. I bring this up because I, too, am saying farewell. Please, hold your gasps. It’s true. Your beloved food columnist is packing up his keyboard and hitting the road, onto …
Mel Sharples
3:58 pm on Monday, May 6, 2013
Went back the week after I wrote that post. About 6pm on a Wednesday evening. One table with customers. No hostess, no servers in sight. Waited. Waited. Waited. Left. Honestly, that played right into our concerns and the issues we'd had in the past. We were disappointed, we really wanted to go in and give it another try. Had a great meal at Keg-n-Kitchen instead. With Pour House and KnK...why … more ›